Opening at the American Museum of Natural History on January 13, Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease explores the factors that determine if a disease is eradicable as well as the scientific and social innovations that are ridding the world of ancient afflictions.

New research shows that modern human skeletons evolved into their lightly built form only relatively recently—after the start of the Holocene about 12,000 years ago and even more recently in some human populations.